CHAPTER ONE
Charlie woke up on the floor of an empty
room.
As he sat up, the faint streetlight from
the window overhead illuminated the hair sliding over his eyes. His sweater caught
one of the nails sticking up from a floor board, and felt foolish when his
sleeve snagged it. He pulled and the thread broke loose.
This was not possible.
He should be sleeping in his bed, not
waking up in the middle of the night on the floor. Fear almost swallowed him.
Charlie stepped gingerly over the gaps in the floor, noting that this area was the same size of his
own room. It was incredibly dark. Feeling his way for the door, his
outstretched hand finally made contact and pushed it with a creak.
Shadows slid over his clothes, while
panic began settling in. Where was he? Where were his parents? His brother?
Charlie shut his eyes and opened them again, hoping that somehow his
surroundings changed, but the same bleak expanse surrounded him. And he just couldn't deny it. It was his
apartment alright, where the identical kitchen entrance opened to the right,
and the living room yawned beyond him... But he had to be mistaken. There
wasn't a single piece of furniture in sight. There was no way that his family
was evicted just yesterday.
The dim hallway stretched beyond him,
where he supposed the doors lining it were also unlocked, and the apartments
disused. The darkness deepened even more down the stairs, where the blackness
had become so complete that his eyes saw nothing. Was there another way to get
down? He didn't think so, unless he was going to jump out the window. More out
of memory than sight, he took one unsteady step at a time, blinded.
His sneakers tread on the soft dust
carpeting the lobby and by accident kicked up a cloud into his face. He braced
for it and violently sneezed. Charlie tried to guess where the entrance door
could be, but it just was not possible when it was pitch black. And not only
that, but what if it was boarded up and he would never get out, and just die in
this place?
He became incredibly frustrated. How
could he have been living a normal life just yesterday, and now he was shut up
in this vacant apartment building, a place where he until recently been living
with his family and doing his geometry homework for Tuesday?
An explosion cracked the air and
completely shocked Charlie. His heart beat wildly in his chest, and in the
silence that later prevailed he was able to hear it. Horrible scenarios raced
through his mind. What if there was someone with a gun here, alerted that there
was a boy who had intruded -
Charlie sprinted towards the adjacent
wall, feeling the rough texture for the door. He shuffled numbly to the left
alongside it, until, there was... a handle!
He pushed it with a strong impact from
his shoulders and it just barely opened. He tried it again and it moved with a
loud groan. He had just stepped quickly through when it closed with a crash.
Charlie winced. While proceeding into the night he gasped.
This was not his neighborhood.
It was dark on the sidewalk, just as it
had been in the building but this time it was intentional. All the street lamps
were off. Because of the partial darkness the stars were visible, glittering
coldly overhead. But he also noticed that there were no lights gleaming in the
windows of the neighborhood, which only meant one thing.
Everyone was asleep.
What time was it? He glanced at his
watch but to his horror all of the hands were motionless. Alone on the sidewalk
he felt exposed. All the cars were parked now by the curb and not a single one
was riding down the street, which caused an eerie silence that lingered in the
cold air. Charlie walked slowly to the right, on the lookout for signs of where
he could possibly be. Part of the skyline created by contrasting buildings
against the bright starry night seemed familiar, but he needed more evidence.
He tried to notice any familiar landmarks such as stores, but without their
neon signs it was impossible to tell. The lack of luminance in this
neighborhood was really irritating.
As he turned the corner a light blinded
him. It was so harsh after impenetrable darkness that it took him a moment to
realize that it was an orange flashlight shining in his eyes. He closed them momentarily
because spots danced across his vision. When he opened them again what he saw
horrified him.
"Who are you?"
The husky voice startled him. A burly
policeman observed him with disgust. "You broke the curfew. Do you know
that? And don't you remember the consequences for that?"
"What do you mean?" Charlie
said, surprised that his question came out so shaky.
The man stared at him without answering.
He was wearing the strangest uniform Charlie had ever seen: a collared maroon jacket
with green accents, a striped tie, and pants and gloves both navy. While
carefully holding the large flashlight, he reached into his pocket and took out
a familiar weapon ... and shot it.
It receded into empty space because
Charlie had already ran when the man wasn't looking. His hands grew cold from
the sound of the gun blast. He had almost made to it a subway station entrance
webbed with caution tape, when the phony police officer let out an angry yell.
"You're not allowed down
there!"
"I don't care!" retorted
Charlie and jumped down an entire flight of stairs without a moment's
hesitation. Pain and shock overwhelmed him as he landed just as a second flight
began, crushing his right arm, and his heart stopped as he hurtled towards the
floor headfirst.
He somehow managed to slow himself down
by holding onto the first step with the tips of his shoes for a moment, before
plunging into the darkness. He reacted by throwing out his arms to break his
fall at the bottom. He crashed into a disoriented heap.
Out of fear of pursuit, Charlie leapt to
his feet and crawled to the side just as light blazed the stairs. The boy began
moving silently to the side, but was blocked suddenly by a gate. He froze as
the impact of his body on the chain links made a shuddering sound.
But the flashlight went out, plunging
Charlie into darkness again. He waited for a few minutes to make sure that man
was not coming back, then groped his way in the dark.
When entering a subway station people
first slide their cards, then pay a fee. There are only one way entrances. They
can leave the subway without paying anything, but they certainly can't get back
in. But Charlie wondered: Were there bar entrances in use where he could just
crawl under, or the impassable revolving gates?
He walked past the stairs and
outstretched his hands, noting the sleek touch of freezing metal. The bars.
Charlie slid under without thinking and entered the subway platform. In this
blackness he couldn't tell where the tracks were, so he dared not to move
further for fear of falling over the edge. He sat down, confused and unhappy.
Questions had been burning though his
head all this time. Where was he? Why was he here? And... This one troubled
Charlie the most, because he wasn't sure if there was even an answer.
How was he to get back to his own world?
He closed his eyes as distress bothered
him. There was no way he could go back aboveground, where the man was waiting
for him like a hawk. First he would see if any subways stopped here. If not - which
was a fearful possibility he did not want to admit - he would try going up
again during the daytime, when there was no curfew.
Charlie had a plan, if not a stupid
idea. If this indeed was his neighborhood and his subway as well, then he would
take it to see his uncle down in Brooklyn.
Charlie stared out into the blackness
for a long time, hopeful for a subway, but when none came he had to admit
defeat. Tiredness suddenly swallowed him up like an ocean. He remembered it was
the middle of the night. The boy curled up on the disgusting floor, recoiling
at the urine-like odor. He took off his sweater and placed it behind his head
on the wall, trying to sleep upright instead. At first troubling thoughts kept
him awake but exhaustion finally won out.
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